Author(s):
\nJ. R. Carpenter<\/p>\n
The Gathering Cloud is a hybrid print and web-based work which aims to address the
\nenvironmental impact of so-called ‘cloud’ computing by calling attention to the materiality of
\nthe clouds in the sky. Both are commonly perceived to be infinite resources, at once vast
\nand immaterial; both, decidedly, are not. Fragments of text from Luke Howard’s classic
\nEssay on the Modifications of Clouds (1803) and other more recent online articles and books
\non media and the environment are pared down into hypertextual hendecasyllabic verses.
\nThese are situated within surreal animated gif collages composed of images materially
\nappropriated from publicly accessible cloud storage services. The cognitive dissonance
\nbetween the cultural fantasy of cloud storage and the hard facts of its environmental impact
\nis bridged, in part, through the constant evocation of animals: A cumulus cloud weighs one
\nhundred elephants. A USB fish swims through a cloud of cables. Four million cute cat pics
\nare shared each day. A small print iteration of The Gathering Cloud shared through gift,
\ntrade, mail art, and small press economies further confuses boundaries between physical
\nand digital, scarcity and waste. A print book edition of The Gathering Cloud, featuring an
\nextended essay by the author, a foreword by media theorist Jussi Parikka and an afterword
\nby poet Lisa Robertson, was published by Uniformbooks in April 2017.
\nThe Gathering Cloud was commissioned by NEoN Digital Arts Festival, Dundee, UK, 9-13
\nNovember 2016.<\/p>\n
It won the New Media Writing Prize 2016, was shortlisted for the ELO Prize 2017, and was an Editor\u2019s Pick for the\u00a0Saboteur Awards 2017.<\/p>\n
Modality of presentation: Web based work
\nURL to work: http:\/\/luckysoap.com\/thegatheringcloud<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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